Abstract

The Next Generation Non-Invasive “Liquid Biopsy” for Cancer Management

Ting-Yuan Tu, Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University

Cancer accounts for millions of deaths worldwide each year, where metastases are responsible for 90% of cancer related deaths for most patients. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are sought to play a critical role in the metastatic process. In the recent decade, CTCs as a liquid biopsy material offers a simple and less invasive means to complement the current standard of multiple tissue biopsies or when biopsy material is absent or inadequate. Besides, CTCs provide information on the metastatic aggressiveness and molecular insights of the primary tumor or foreboding metastatic lesion. In this talk, I will review the development of analyses of CTCs. (1) The methodologies used for enrichment of CTCs and (2) clinical applications of enriched CTCs will be presented. I will demonstrate a label free and automated CTC enrichment system, the ClearCell® FX, leveraging an elegant microfluidic technology to offer a new perspective in clinical cancer diagnostics. Consistent and reproducible recovery of CTCs from prostate, breast and lung cancer will be demonstrated. Ultra-high purity, molecular analyses and other applications on CTCs will also be reported.